deckyard

# Deckyard The open-source, end-to-end presentation platform. Not just a slide builder: Deckyard lets you **create, present, publish, and collaborate** on presentations in one web-based tool that runs on infrastructure you control. Every deck stays yours, from first draft to live audience. **AI on your terms.** People reach for AI to draft decks; Deckyard puts you in control of it. Bring your own API key, tune the prompts, or drive it from your own tools over [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/) (MCP). No forced LLM, no lock-in. Built with plain Node.js and vanilla ESM. No framework, no bundler, no vendor lock-in. **Live at [deckyard.eu](https://deckyard.eu)** — product site, documentation, and a sandbox to try it in the browser. Or self-host it yourself; everything below is the same engine.  ## Why Deckyard **For presenters:** 39 typed slide types, live presenting with speaker notes, audience follow-along with polls and Q&A, bilingual support (Dutch/English), and an AI wizard that actually understands presentation design. **For developers:** Self-hosted, BYO LLM (OpenAI, Claude, Mistral), fully themeable, embeddable via JS SDK, white-label ready. Fork it, theme it, extend it with custom slide types. Zero cloud dependencies. **For AI agents:** 27 MCP tools, 6 guided prompts, and a type-aware generation pipeline that understands the difference between a KPI dashboard and a timeline. Connect via stdio (Claude Desktop, Cursor) or SSE (remote agents, [OpenClaw](https://openclaw.ai), webhooks). Your agent doesn't generate slide markup; it describes what it wants, and Deckyard handles the rest. ### What makes it different | | Gamma / Tome / Beautiful.ai | Google Slides + Gemini | Deckyard | |---|---|---|---| | AI generation | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ 39 typed slides | | MCP interface | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ 27 tools + 6 prompts | | Self-hosted | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | | BYO LLM | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | | Custom themes | Limited | Limited | ✅ Full control | | Embed SDK | ❌ | Limited | ✅ | | White-label | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | | Open source | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ MIT | ## Quick Start One command — picks Docker or Node 22+ automatically, writes a local `.env`, starts the app, and opens your browser: ```bash curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jaapstronks/deckyard/main/scripts/install.sh | bash ``` Prefer to do it by hand (or read before you pipe)? The manual path: ```bash git clone https://github.com/jaapstronks/deckyard.git cd deckyard npm install npm run setup # optional: AI key, auth, port (Enter accepts defaults) npm run start # Open http://localhost:4177 ``` The installer is [`scripts/install.sh`](scripts/install.sh); it clones the repo, writes a local `.env`, installs dependencies, and starts the app — nothing leaves your machine. See the [self-hosting guide](docs/ops/self-hosting.md) for the VPS/HTTPS path. ### Or let your AI agent install it Deckyard is MCP-native, so a shell-capable coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, …) can clone it, configure it with your keys, start it, and wire itself in over MCP in one go. Paste the prompt from [`docs/ops/agent-install.md`](docs/ops/agent-install.md) to your agent — it follows that same doc as a stable procedure. The non-interactive setup takes flags for exactly this: `npm run setup -- --yes --ai=claude --ai-key=… --auth=off`. ## MCP Server — AI Agent Integration Deckyard speaks [MCP](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/) natively. Any MCP-compatible client can create, modify, and manage presentations through natural language. ### Connect to Claude Desktop ```json { "mcpServers": { "deckyard": { "command": "node", "args": ["server/mcp/index.js"], "cwd": "/path/to/deckyard", "env": { "DECKYARD_MCP_OWNER_EMAIL": "you@example.com" } } } } ``` ### Connect remotely (SSE transport) For remote agents, CI/CD pipelines, or platforms like [OpenClaw](https://openclaw.ai): ```bash # Create an API key node scripts/create-api-key.js --email you@example.com --name "Agent" --scopes read,write,ai # Connect to SSE endpoint POST https://your-deckyard.com/mcp Authorization: Bearer dk_live_... ``` An installable [OpenClaw skill](skills/openclaw-skill/) is included — drop it in and your agent can build presentations. ### What agents can do **27 tools** covering the full presentation lifecycle: - `create_presentation` — Generate a full deck from raw text, bullet points, or meeting notes - `iterate_presentation` — Modify with natural language ("make slide 3 punchier", "split the KPI slide") - `append_slides` — Add content to an existing deck (smart positioning before closing slides) - `convert_slide` — Switch between 39 slide types with AI-powered content adaptation - `compress_presentation` — Reduce slide count while preserving key messages - `analyze_presentation` — Get suggestions for improving structure and content - `validate_presentation` — Check for density issues, repetition, readability problems - `preview_slide` / `preview_presentation` — Self-contained HTML preview for in-chat rendering - Comments: `list_comments` / `list_recent_comments` (with slide context + snapshots), `add_comment`, `reply_to_comment`, `set_comment_status` — agents can triage and answer reviewer feedback - Plus: `add_slide`, `update_slide`, `remove_slide`, `reorder_slides`, `duplicate_presentation`, `list_themes`, `get_presentation_url`, and more **6 guided prompts** for Claude Desktop's `/` menu: - `/create-presentation` — Guided deck creation workflow - `/improve-presentation` — Analyze and improve an existing deck - `/refine-slide` — Deep-dive into a single slide - `/compress-presentation` — Distill a long deck - `/add-content` — Extend a deck with new material - `/deck-overview` — Structural overview of any presentation ### AI generation pipeline Deckyard doesn't just dump text onto slides. The AI pipeline: 1. **Outlines** the deck structure, picking from 39 typed slide layouts 2. **Refines** each slide with type-aware content (KPI metrics, timeline entries, process steps — not just bullet points) 3. **Validates** the result: density checks, repetition detection, readability analysis 4. Returns **reasoning** for each type selection and **alternative suggestions** Theme-aware: if your theme has specific brand colors or background images, the AI sees them and adapts. Full docs: [`docs/reference/mcp-server.md`](docs/reference/mcp-server.md) ## Customization Deckyard is designed to be forked and branded. All customizations live in dedicated directories that won't conflict with upstream updates. ### Custom Themes Create organization-specific themes in `custom/themes/`: ```json { "id": "my-org", "label": "My Organization", "assets": { "logo": "/custom/assets/images/my-logo.svg", "logoAlt": "My Organization" }, "cssVars": { "--t-color-accent": "#007bff", "--t-font-heading": "'Inter', sans-serif" } } ``` See `themes/deckyard.json` for a complete example. ### Custom Slide Types Add organization-specific slide types in `custom/slide-types/`: ```javascript // custom/slide-types/my-slide-type.js import { esc } from '../shared/slide-types/helpers.js'; export default { label: 'My Custom Slide', fields: [ { key: 'title', label: 'Title', type: 'string', required: true }, ], defaults: { title: 'New slide' }, renderHtml: (content) => ` <div class="slide slide-custom"> <h1>${esc(content?.title)}</h1> </div> `, }; ``` ### Custom Assets ``` custom/assets/ ├── images/ │ └── my-logo.svg └── fonts/ └── MyFont.woff2 ``` Reference them in your theme: `"/custom/assets/images/my-logo.svg"` ### For Forks 1. Remove the custom directories from `.gitignore` 2. Commit your themes, slide types, and assets 3. Set up upstream tracking: ```bash git remote add upstream https://github.com/jaapstronks/deckyard.git git fetch upstream git merge upstream/main ``` ## Configuration ### Environment Variables Copy `.env.example` to `.env` — it documents every option. The essentials: ```bash # AI Wizard (choose one or more) OPENAI_API=sk-... CLAUDE_API=sk-ant-... MISTRAL_API=... DEEPSEEK_API=sk-... # Default theme (optional, defaults to 'deckyard') DEFAULT_THEME=deckyard # MCP owner (for stdio transport) DECKYARD_MCP_OWNER_EMAIL=you@example.com ``` ### Authentication Auth is **disabled by default**. Enable it by setting: - `AUTH_ENABLED=true` - `AUTH_SECRET` — A random secret for session signing - `AUTH_ADMIN_EMAIL` — This user gets the admin role Users are managed in the app itself (admin panel, invitations, password reset). For local development, `AUTH_DEV_BYPASS=true` skips auth entirely and auto-logs you in as admin. ### Real-time collaboration (presence) Optional and **off by default** — single-user installs need nothing. Set `COLLAB_ENABLED=true` and the server mounts a [Yjs](https://yjs.dev) ([Hocuspocus](https://tiptap.dev/docs/hocuspocus)) WebSocket endpoint at `/collab` inside the same Node process — no extra service, port, or proxy configuration (WebSocket upgrades ride the same port; Caddy/nginx pass them through by default). With the flag on, editors show live collaborator presence: who is in the deck, which slide each person is viewing, and which field they are editing. Access control reuses the normal presentation permissions; viewers and share-link guests connect read-only. See `docs/reference/collab-presence.md` for how it works. ## Deployment ### Docker (Recommended) ```bash docker compose up -d --build ``` Runs on port 4177. Use the included Caddy configuration for HTTPS. Going from zero to a live HTTPS instance on a VPS is one command with [`scripts/vps-bootstrap.sh`](scripts/vps-bootstrap.sh) — see the [self-hosting guide](docs/ops/self-hosting.md). ### Manual ```bash npm install --omit=dev node server/server.js ``` ### Data Storage - Presentations: `server/data/presentations/` - Uploads: `server/uploads/` Back up these directories regularly. (Optional Postgres mode: see `.env.example`.) ## Project Structure ``` deckyard/ ├── client/ # Frontend (browser) ├── server/ # Backend (Node.js) │ ├── mcp/ # MCP server (stdio + SSE) │ └── utils/ai/ # AI pipeline ├── shared/ # Shared code (slide types, markdown) ├── themes/ # Built-in themes ├── skills/ # Agent skill templates (OpenClaw) ├── custom/ # Your customizations (gitignored) │ ├── themes/ │ ├── slide-types/ │ └── assets/ ├── tests/ # MCP + unit tests └── docs/ # Documentation ``` ## Documentation - [deckyard.eu](https://deckyard.eu) — product site and published documentation (features, usage, guides) - [MCP Server reference](docs/reference/mcp-server.md) — All 27 tools, 6 prompts, transport options - [Developer docs](docs/developer/README.md) — Architecture and extending - [Theme reference](docs/developer/themes.md) — Theming system - [Self-hosting guide](docs/ops/self-hosting.md) — VPS bootstrap, updates, backups - [ROADMAP](ROADMAP.md) — Where Deckyard is headed ## Contributing Contributions welcome! See [`CONTRIBUTING.md`](CONTRIBUTING.md) for guidelines. ## Maintainers Deckyard is built and maintained by [Jaap Stronks](https://github.com/jaapstronks). For security reports, use GitHub's private vulnerability reporting (see [`SECURITY.md`](SECURITY.md)); for everything else, open an issue. ## License MIT License — see `LICENSE` for details.